Dramacon Chapter Previews--why is the last chapter available instead of the first?

[YamPuff]

http://www.tokyopop.com/P-12/
Two Questions:

1. Why is it that there is a preview available for the LAST chapter of Dramacon for anyone to read--thus spoiling the story--and no previews available for the all the previous chapters (justthat VIP membership thing)? There used to be a preview for the first three chapters; this is just silly. Shouldn't you want to reel people in to have VIP memberships to finish the story and see what happens, not start it?

2. What is a VIP membership and when will it be available? I'm assuming its not for free, so, how much?

[AnimeDudde]

Wow, this is interesting :P TP is always up to something, seriously :rolleyes:

EDIT: Oh, and of course I agree. Why would anyone want to read the ending before the start? Considering they wouldnt even understand what's happened at the start if they havent read the previous volumes o_o

[Kaoru]

Wow that's weird...maybe it's suppose to be incentive to sign up for this VIP membership thing. Whatever that is.

[YamPuff]

Yeah, read the end of the book and you'll be dying to see what happened in the first place! I can see the advertisements now.

[crispy]

I'm more wondering why Volume 2s haven't been give the same treatment. Back when Shutterbox 4 and Princess Ai 2 and 3 came out, Manga Online posted previews of both -- and yet, continuing volumes of various other OEL series do not receive the same attention.

But yeah-- I agree... Posting up the very end of some of these books (Sorcerers and Secretaries being another that falls to this problem) is not conducive to Tokyopop's goal of bring readers into these books, and thus coercing them to buy.

[YamPuff]

Yeah, you're right. They did have previews for all the new volumes as well. Oh, Tokyopop you were doing so well, why, why did you change? TT______TT

[Tavisha]

I'm more wondering why Volume 2s haven't been give the same treatment. Back when Shutterbox 4 and Princess Ai 2 and 3 came out, Manga Online posted previews of both -- and yet, continuing volumes of various other OEL series do not receive the same attention.


Hi Crispy~! ^_______^ I think you meant ShutterBox vol. 3, because SB 4 isn't out quite yet and they haven't put up any previews for it. No idea if they will~ I do think it was pretty silly putting SB vol 3 up when obviously people who never read vol. 1 & 2 had no clue what was going on.

But, yeah....I totally agree, I would prefer that they started these previews from the beginning chapter vol. 1~ >___<**** I know I sure don't like spoilers.

[YamPuff]

I find myself wondering...which mod edited the thread title and why? It said 'Dramacon Chapter Previews' now it says, 'Dramacon Chapter Previews--why is the last chapter available instead of the first?'.

So obviously some mod looked at it. Yet both questions remain unanswered. :confused:

[crispy]

Hi Crispy~! ^_______^ I think you meant ShutterBox vol. 3, because SB 4 isn't out quite yet and they haven't put up any previews for it. No idea if they will~ I do think it was pretty silly putting SB vol 3 up when obviously people who never read vol. 1 & 2 had no clue what was going on.

But, yeah....I totally agree, I would prefer that they started these previews from the beginning chapter vol. 1~ >___<**** I know I sure don't like spoilers.

Ah Sorry sorry! I thought vol 4 was the most current release. (apparently, lol)

[PeterAhlstrom]

The mods are not the people who can answer the questions, but a more specific title might attract the attention of those who are.

Though...the long topic seems to have broken this thread. *sigh*

[chojinlocke]

I have to agree. I was going to direct some people I met at the Sony Reader event to the Tokyopop site to preview Psy-Comm and a few other titles I recommended. They could only see the last chapter . So I had to direct them to the Amazon preview instead. I would rather direct them to Tpop site so they could possibly check out other titles. The way things are arranged now doesn't really foster this.

Would it help to start a new thread? I would hazzard a guess that all the creators would like an arrangement where the 1st chapter of each book was up for preview in a non-premium signup way.

[YamPuff]

The mods are not the people who can answer the questions, but a more specific title might attract the attention of those who are.

Though...the long topic seems to have broken this thread. *sigh*
I was actually hoping you would be the one to know.

[PeterAhlstrom]

I don't have anything to do with the website itself. I used to be involved in copy editing the updates to Manga Online and forwarding them to Will what to fix, but now cell phone manga copy editing has replaced that on my list.

[crispy]

Cell phone manga?

WTF... What a waste of time.

[YamPuff]

So I'm not the only one who thinks that.

[JimDeVico]

Cell phone manga?

WTF... What a waste of time.

Crispy, we're trying it all. You never know what may or may not catch on. Is that ok with you?

[Kaoru]

Cell phone manga?

WTF... What a waste of time.
You should try it, it's not that bad. They need more titles tho.

[AnimeDudde]

Im wondering if its similar to reading scantlations or something? :S

[crispy]

Crispy, we're trying it all. You never know what may or may not catch on. Is that ok with you?

You're the ones doing it. Why bother even asking?

Personally, for a company that's basically deficit spending, I don't think it's a smart move. Why not just try to stick with what you're good at and perhaps make it better, rather than spreading yourselves too thin and trying EVERYTHING, but only doing it half-heartedly.

But whatever. Your sardonic attitude gives the impression that you don't care, so, I don't either.

To back myself up:

"And just so the whole world knows, we are deficit financing this whole thing. "
-- Stu Levy, CEO of Tokyopop in an interview here. (http://publishersweekly.com/article/CA6366455.html)

[PeterAhlstrom]

The quote doesn't apply to every initiative. (In fact, mobile manga has already broken even.)

[roxas87]

so when is the vip thing coming? (from yampuff's questions)

[JimDeVico]

so when is the vip thing coming? (from yampuff's questions)

We're working on developing it now. We don't know yet when it is coming or what it will cost. We'll make an announcement when we're closer to having it scheduled.

[YamPuff]

But it will cost something...darnit. If only I had a credit card....*opens her spam folder*